Hello all,
I am wondering about using the BIOS Saviour device (IOSS RD1). If I understood it correctly the 'original' flash card is at the bottom and 'experimental' one is at the top. The 'original' comes with IOSS RD1 kit attached to the PLCC socket and could not be removed. The experimental is an any kind of flash chip of appropriate ROM type (in my case PLCC), for example the one which was installed in my motherboard before. The experimental is removable.
The reason that the origninal is used as 'back up' makes one to choose the device with approprite flash size. In my board I have SST49LF080A 8 Mbit, should I use IOSS RD1-LPC8 which is 8 MBit also?
On the http://www.coreboot.org/Developer_Manual/Tools#BIOS_Savior it is said that 'This device helps to minimize the amount of hot swapping required and reduces mechanical and electrical stress on the BIOS chips'. Actually I dont fully understand this. The exerimental flash chip is still have to be unplugged to be reprogrammed by flash programmer. This phrase makes sense to me only if in-circuit reprogramming is used (like 'hot-swap').
Could anybody share his expeirience with this device? How do you use it? Is it still possible to buy? It seems that manufacturer is out of bussiness now.
Best regards, Alexander